Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Voter turnout is plummeting in NJ’s cities. Both sides are vying for urban support.
By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 8, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Mike Hayes
By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 8, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Jack Ciattarelli was out shaking hands on the campaign trail earlier this month, talking to voters about rising home prices and unaffordable electric bills. But the Republican nominee for governor wasn't in the suburbs, where he's traditionally performed well. He was in Camden, a city that has long leaned Democratic but is now a spot where conservatives see a potential opportunity to pick up voters in what's likely to be a close election.
Republicans recently made inroads in Garden State cities, with President Donald Trump making gains among Black and Latino voters in last year's presidential elections. But voter turnout in the state's urban areas has also plummeted in recent election cycles meaning Democrats can no longer take them for granted. And both parties are now vying for support there.
Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University's Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, said roughly just 20%-25% of eligible voters in cities like Newark, Trenton and Paterson cast ballots during the 2021 gubernatorial election.
“We can say at this moment in time, four out of five or three out of four urban voters are not bothering to vote in the non-presidential elections across New Jersey,” Rasmussen said. “It's a problem for the Democratic Party, which relies on a big urban vote.”
The decline is relatively recent. Two decades ago, Rasmussen said, cities in New Jersey saw voter percentage numbers in the high 30s for off-year elections like this year’s gubernatorial. Those numbers are closer to what was seen in the 2024 presidential election, when turnout is generally higher.
Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill will need urban voters to buck this trend and turn out in strong numbers. A majority of polls have shown her leading Ciattarelli by 5 and 8 points as Election Day approaches.
But they also show her lead waning from a high-water mark this summer, when Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute put her ahead by 20 points. A recent Emerson College poll even showed the race to be a dead heat as of the last week of September.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill campaigning in Jersey City.
Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey
Ciattarelli’s strength in the suburbs is all the more reason Sherrill needs a good urban showing. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within about 3 points of nearly upsetting Gov. Phil Murphy.
The Republican outperformed expectations that year in battlegrounds like Morris County — an area that Sherrill partly represents in Congress — winning it by 10 points over Murphy.
This year, Ciattarelli could see an urban bump if trends continue from 2024. Latino and Black voters in several New Jersey cities turned out for Trump.
In Union City, where the population is 80% Latino, the president saw his share of the vote go from 18% in 2016 to 40% in 2024. In Perth Amboy, it jumped from 16% to 44%. And Trump became the first Republican to win Passaic County — which contains Paterson — in 30 years.
Patricia Campos-Medina, vice chair for the Sherrill campaign, told Gothamist that Democrats have to fix mistakes that have contributed to dwindling urban turnout of the last few gubernatorial election cycles, such as 2021 and 2017.
”We are concerned, but that’s why we’re doing the work,” Campos-Medina said, adding that the campaign is strengthening its ground game in places like Paterson and Passaic, not taking the large bloc of urban voters for granted the way the Democratic Party has in the past.
She said multiple teams are going door to door daily and connecting with voters through WhatsApp groups and other social media. She said Democrats have also invested over $1 million in radio, TV and digital ad campaigns targeting Latino voters in urban centers.
“The message has to be more granular, to be more in tune to the needs of the different voting blocs. And we've been working to get validators in those communities to engage with us and to be the spokesperson for Mikie’s agenda in those communities,” Campos-Medina said.
That on-the-ground strategy includes people like Maria Del Pilar, a deputy mayor in Paterson. Del Pilar immigrated from Peru with her family at 18 and is now a U.S. citizen.
She is one of roughly 30,000 Peruvians living in the city. Del Pilar, who owns a bridal shop, said she’s part of a team focused on getting Peruvians to come out for Sherrill.
“We are knocking doors every day from noontime to 8 p.m.,” said Del Pilar, telling people, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain” about the results.
Another leader working to help drive turnout is Tamara Morales, a Mexican restaurant owner who grew up in Passaic. Along with knocking doors, she’s been organizing events to get young people registered. She’s also planning to drive people in her Mexican community to vote on Election Day.
“My community's been told for so, so long, your vote doesn't matter. And it does. We've been brainwashed,” Morales said.
State Sen. Benjie Wimberley, a Democrat from Paterson and another surrogate for the Sherrill campaign, recently hosted the party’s nominee at Paterson’s Labor Day festival.
“ I'm just trying to, for a lack of a better term, agitate voters to get out and vote. You know, obviously, there's a lot of voter apathy, not just in this election, but in many elections in urban areas,” he said.
Wimberley tells voters in his community that this year’s gubernatorial race is “ one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime,” he said.
“ This is going to impact us for many years to come and it's going to set the tone for ‘26 and moving forward, it may seem like a long way away, but to the next presidential election,” Wimberley said.
Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill on the debate stage at Rider University on Sept. 21.
Peter G. Borg/Rider University
Ciattarelli has his own ground game. A review of his campaign stops over the last month shows he’s been showing up in the state’s urban centers, holding events at Black churches and attending Hispanic festivals around the state.
“In one of my close conversations with Jack, he said four years ago, ‘I could never even come to Newark. And now I'm in Newark as often as people invite me,’” said Oscar James, a former Democratic Newark city councilmember who has broken with his party and is now backing Ciattarelli.
“ It's been very clear to me that Jack is the best person in this race, no matter what. And when you talk to urban voters … they're not scared of Jack and they're not scared of his plan. They do believe his plan may have an opportunity to do something for their life,” James said.
At the campaign event in Camden earlier this month, a crowd of about 50 people greeted Ciattarelli at the well-known restaurant Donkey’s Place on Haddon Ave. The poverty rate is hovering close to 30% in the South Jersey city, more than three times the statewide average. Some in attendance at the event spoke out in support of Ciattarelli’s policy proposals, such as his plans to cut property and business taxes.
“Camden is in dire need of serious revitalization and investment in small businesses. I believe that Jack is the man that will put forth the effort to invest in our commercial corridor,” said Camden resident Keith Walker.
Ulysses Delgado, an activist and Camden resident, said he’s impressed by how much Ciattarelli has been in his community.
“ He comes to our meetings, Republican meetings … and he speaks from his heart,” Delgado said.
The Sherrill campaign is counting on Ciattarelli’s alignment with Trump, who endorsed him during the primary and has recently praised Ciattarelli’s campaign on social media, will be the Republicans' undoing in New Jersey’s cities.
Wimberley rattled off a list. He said urban voters are seeing the National Guard descend on cities across the country. They’re paying price increases for “everything from your groceries to your clothes” due to Trump’s tariffs. And he pointed to remarks Trump has made disparaging non-English speaking communities. Combined, he said, it’s enough to motivate voters who don’t normally come out in urban areas to vote for Sherrill.
“ I think our numbers are going to be better than expected. And believe it or not, I think Donald Trump is helping us,” Wimberley said.
The two candidates will square off at their second one-on-one debate Wednesday night, starting at 7 p.m.
Tagged
Politics
election
new jersey
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NYPD searching for suspect after fatal stabbing in Queens
Officers responding to a call at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 173rd Street around 1 a.m. found 29-year-old Sulimon Ferrier, who had multiple stab wounds to his chest, police said.
By
Ben Feuerherd
Published Oct 3, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. ET
NYPD: 2 suspects in off-duty officer stabbing tried to rob victim
It’s unclear if the attackers knew the victim was NYPD.
By
Jill Webb
News
NYPD: 2 suspects in off-duty officer stabbing tried to rob victim
It’s unclear if the attackers knew the victim was NYPD.
By
Jill Webb
Astoria-born Chip City announces sudden closure days after former CEO sues
By
Catalina Gonella
US judge tosses Trump lawsuit targeting pro-Palestinian protesters in NJ
By
Willow Higgins
A big, bright Saturn will be the highlight of NYC's fall stargazing season
By
Rosemary Misdary
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .